TRUE GRIT

A 42-footer meant for serious cruising.
By Don Sharp

    Offshore passage under power used to be a masochist’s tour de force. Robert Beebe, however, with his own trans-oceanic passages and in his book, Voyaging Under Power, proved that a long passage in a powerboat is a reasonable proposition – when you have the right boat.
    The “right” boat means a displacement hull, typically driven by a diesel that accommodates itself to a seaway, rather than frightening with it. In other words, a hull derived from the fisheries. Thus, when the late Arthur Kadey asked designer Jim Krogen to develop a pilothouse passagemaker, Krogen refined a hard-working shrimper into the Krogen 42 Trawler Yacht. Kadey and Krogen put the boat into production and despite Kadey’s untimely death, over 100 have been built to date.
    Krogen did not use the term “trawler” idly, as some have, to denote a numbing superstructure stacked on an indifferent bottom. Rather, his 42 is a full-displacement hull with a full length keel, soft bilges that roll rather than round, and stern that gives a soft answer to a wrathful wave.

    The boat stretches 42’4” overall on a 39’6” waterline, with 15’ of beam and 4’7” of draft, the lot of it weighing 39,500 pounds, 2,500 pounds of which is in the ballasted keel. The excellence of the hull shape shows in the wave system that builds along the waterline as the boat gains speed. Wavelets form as it gets underway and stretch themselves as speed increases, until a single phase - crest at the bow, crest at the stern, and one trough between – cups it like Neptune’s hands, and there it rides, reaching for the “gray Azores” on one side of the country, or for French Frigate Shoals on the other.
    By Froude’s long-standing generality, the optimum speed, in knots, for a displacement hull may be reckoned as 1.34 times the square root of the load waterline (1.34 LWL). By this measure, the Krogen 42 should make 8.4 knots. It actually does better, reaching an efficient 9.2 mph, or 10 + mph, with its 135-hp Super Lehman diesel at 2500 rpm and driving a 28x20 propeller through a Borg-Warner 2.91:1 gear. At 2000 rpm, it eases along at a stately 8 knots, or 9.2 mph. With a 28x19 prop, the limits of the Lehman, an engine famous over the literal seven seas for its longevity and reliability.
    At a relatively low fuel consumption of .398 pounds per horsepower per hour (lb/hphr), the Lehman should consume 7.5

gallons per hour at full throttle, so the standard 700-gallon tank gives a range of around 950 miles at top speed. At 2000 rpm, the 107-hp mark, the Lehman uses .373 lb/hphr, or 5.6gph. The tankage, then, assures 125 hours at 9.2 mph, or 1150 miles. Obviously, rough sea conditions will bring these numbers down, but likewise will auxiliary tankage increase them.

1,000 Miles to Landfall
(Let’s Not Rough It)
    Just as Krogen meant “trawler” when he said it, he meant no less with the word “yacht.” Despite carrying a low $147,000 base price, the 42 fits the definition. Teak trim bespeaks tradition, as to the laid teak decks, which have the added advantage that they don’t rot and provide a good traction surface for feet even when wet, these being the reasons the old timers used teak in the first place.
    The teak theme continues within, in trim, furnishings, and the soles of the saloon and staterooms, not to mention the pilothouse. Throughout, the emphasis is on comfortable sea-going function: this is a boat to live in and with, more than to show off, though it shows off very well to a discriminating eye.
    To accommodate the complement between landfalls 1,000 miles apart, the forepeak

stateroom comes in three forms: twin V-berths, double island berth, or double to starboard, with a head and shower in the very peak. The second stateroom, immediately below the pilothouse, provides an L-shaped berth and a fold-down on the forward bulkhead, with a private head to port. These arrangements can be modified to equip the second stateroom as a master, with double berth. Locker and drawer space is generous, the lockers having louvered drawers of teak.
    Proceeding aft, the galley lies athwartships. Double sinks are on the centerline, with a full range to starboard and a double refrigerator/freezer on the forward bulkhead. Opposite, a long counter provides for an ad hoc sandwich or for serving to the saloon.
    The saloon itself enjoys large portlights – “windows,” in common parlance – that keep it light and airy, the portlights themselves well sheltered by the deck bulwarks and by the overhang of the bridge deck above. One entry leads to the rear deck, while a second on the port side leads to the pilothouse via a stairway. On deck, a stair at the starboard quarter rises to the bridgedeck, a capacious acreage for stowing the tender or relishing the sun.
    Though the creature comfort may be below, on a boat of this sort, the glory is in the pilothouse – teak everywhere, set off the bronze fittings, and a massive teak-and-

stainless wheel that Tugboat Annie would have been proud of. The helmsman has electronics in front, overhead, and to starboard, the portside area of the control station serving as a chart table. The entries, on both sides, are Dutch; that is, divided halfway up, so the top portion may be opened independently of the bottom.
On the foredeck, a huge locker contains the ropes and fenders, and a pulpit at the bow holds the anchor, the whole area being surrounded by a stainless steel rail.

Multiple Options
By its nature, a displacement hull is responsive to a wave system. A sailboat gets some stabilizing from its sail, but a powered displacement hull just rocks and rolls as it goes. Since motion cannot be avoided, the designer accepts it and seeks the most agreeable motion. Krogen did well in this department: the 42 ambles through a seaway like a patient plow horse, seeming to know that all that motion is to no account, for it will get there just the same. However, no one denies that the rolling can get tedious on a long passage, so that boat is available with stabilizers, either of the “flopper

stopper” or fin type.
   Although the Krogen 42 is not a large boat, it is more than some people want, and to satisfy those, Krogen builds the 36-foot Manatee, a blunt-bowed design (that recalls certain Dutch boats) in one- or two-stateroom form, with the control station on the bridgedeck. On the other hand, for those who want more than the 42, Krogen recently introduced a 54-footer with twin cabins and masts for steadying sails. Last, as one of few designers who work in both power and sail, Krogen also has a 38-foot cutter (jib and staysail).
    That’s at the moment: Kadey-Krogen recently spawned a separate sister company called Silhouette to build planning-hull powerboats, the first design being a 42-foot, flying-bridge cruiser. While Jim Krogen certainly understands the uses of tradition, as amply proved in the Krogen series, the Silhouette 42 shows that he is not its prisoner: the lines are just racey enough to get attention, but not extreme enough to fall off into perversion, as so often happens with the ultra-modern Italian boats.
    Designers of this flexibility are rare, and the fact that Krogen can handle several types and styles well gives added endorsement to the 42.

As author Don Sharp says, "the glory is in the pilothouse" with teak everywhere (photo above). Jim Krogen understands space well, as witness the airy saloon on his 42. He gave the boat (below) a displacement hull which can happily amble through long distances.